american university
GRITtv: Feb. 2, 2011
"What we are seeing is nothing less than an Egyptian Tiananmen Square," says Khaled Fahmy of American University in Cairo. He watched today as bands of armed men descended on peaceful protesters in Cairo, heading for Tahrir Square. Some of the people, who Fahmy called "thugs" rode through crowds on horseback and camelback, trying to drive them back. Mubarak "has burned all his bridges with his people," Fahmy notes via phone from Cairo, and the violence today was a last gasp for the regime. "The one predictable thing about revolutions is that they are unpredictable," notes Benjamin Barber, fellow at Demos and author of Consumed and Jihad vs. McWorld. Barber points out that as revolution rocks the Arab world, each country will find its own solution and destiny. The important thing to note, he says, is that autocratic regimes hollow out their states' civil society, leaving little infrastructure in place for citizens to use to govern themselves. Benjamin joins Laura in studio to discuss the situation in Egypt and to update us on the conflict he wrote about in Jihad vs. McWorld years ago, between consumer capitalism and Islamism. Why can we picture no alternative to the two extremes, when revolution comes? "If Internet freedoms have to be secured with policy then as far as I'm concerned there are no Internet freedoms," says Douglas Rushkoff, author of Program or Be Programmed. He notes that what we've learned from the Internet shutoff in Egypt is that there is too much centralization on the Web, and when people like Joe Lieberman can call Amazon and knock WikiLeaks off their server or convince PayPal not to process their payments anymore, there's too much control. Doug joins us from his home via Skype to talk to us about the problems with the Internet we have, government control over it, and how we can create a 'Net they can't shut down. Distributed by Tubemogul.
Email this pageGRITtv: Mubarak's Last Cairo Crackdown
"What we are seeing is nothing less than an Egyptian Tiananmen Square," says Khaled Fahmy of American University in Cairo. He watched today as bands of armed men descended on peaceful protesters in Cairo, heading for Tahrir Square. Some of the people, who Fahmy called "thugs" rode through crowds on horseback and camelback, trying to drive them back. Mubarak "has burned all his bridges with his people," Fahmy notes via phone from Cairo, and the violence today was a last gasp for the regime. Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: Creating a New Media with Tracy Van Slyke and Jessica Clark
The progressive media during the Bush era grew to new heights, developing in ways that suited the particular tendencies of the left. Tracy Van Slyke and Jessica Clark started to study the way the media was developing while they worked together at In These Times magazine, and continued their work as Tracy founded the Media Consortium (of which GRITtv is a proud member) and Jessica moved to the Center for Social Media at American University. Their new book, Beyond the Echo Chamber: How a Networked Progressive Media Can Reshape American Politics, explains how the progressive media has used new technology to make progressive change, and they join us in studio to talk about their book and their continuing work.
GRITtv: Wed. Feb. 24 2010
The Bush administration thrived on secrecy; Obama promised more transparency, but has yet to really deliver. What's more, when information does come out, it seems that accountability is nearly impossible to get: the torture memos were released, but there will be no trials. We ask Daniel Ellsberg, one of the world's most famous whistleblowers, if there's anything the people can do to take the power back. Former GRITtv guest Ted Rall is an editorial cartoonist as well as an acclaimed radio journalist and he's looking for a kickstart to return to Afghanistan to do more reporting. For your enjoyment, we've got a couple of his animated cartoons: one on the Democratic party, and one on Obama's health care plan. The progressive media during the Bush era grew to new heights, developing in ways that suited the particular tendencies of the left. Tracy Van Slyke and Jessica Clark started to study the way the media was developing while they worked together at In These Times magazine, and continued their work as Tracy founded the Media Consortium (of which GRITtv is a proud member) and Jessica moved to the Center for Social Media at American University. Their new book, Beyond the Echo Chamber: How a Networked Progressive Media Can Reshape American Politics, explains how the progressive media has used new technology to make progressive change, and they join us in studio to talk about their book and their continuing work. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has been under investigation and the subject of constant protest over his racial profiling and abuse of power in Arizona. Now, Wells Fargo has served Arpaio with an eviction notice from his offices. Dennis Gilman sent us this video in celebration. Our friends at the Applied Research Center and the Rights Working Group are organizing a "night of 1000 conversations" around racial profiling, and they sent us this video to ask for your support and involvement. Finally, lobbyists for polluting companies and members of Congress are busy people, and sometimes they just don't have the time to make the love connections they need to keep the money flowing. PolluterHarmony is here to the rescue! (This spoof brought to you by our friends at GreenPeace.)
